Scarecrows on display in Elkins

Tim MacVean

Senior Staff Writer

tmacvean@theintermountain.com

Volunteer Jane Hoxmeier, right, and Davis & Elkins College women’s lacrosse player Savannah Stanford pose next to a scarecrow inspired by the West Virginia University Mountaineer mascot.

ELKINS — For the third straight year, the streets of downtown Elkins are lined with the smiling faces of scarecrows.

The third annual Elkins Main Street Scarecrow Festival set up nearly 100 scarecrows Saturday morning, with the help of several individual volunteers and volunteer groups.

Bobbi Trimboli, Elkins Main Street Design Committee volunteer and coordinator of this year’s festival, said she is overwhelmed by the number of submissions to the festival as well as their quality.

“We are very pleased with the quality, the ingenuity and the creativity that all the different groups, businesses and organizations put into their scarecrows,” Trimboli said. “There was a lot of thought, a lot of interesting names to all of them to reflect their theme and it’s a fun event. Everyone enjoys making one and seeing it put up.”

She added that this year’s festival saw an increase in submissions from last year, even though some entries from last year made their way back to the streets for a second time.

“We hope to keep the festival growing and hope to get more and more groups interested in participating and submitting more scarecrows,” Trimboli said. “We will find more places to put them.”

The scarecrows will stay up until some time in late October, at least through the date of the Downtown Trick-or-Treat event, also sponsored by Elkins Main Street.

The creations line both sides of Davis Avenue from the Davis Avenue Bridge to the intersection of Davis Avenue and Randolph Avenue. They also run along both sides of Third Street from the Elkins Depot Welcome Center to the Elkins Post Office/Federal Building. Additional scarecrows can be found along Fourth Street and Railroad Avenue.

Trimboli added that Delmonte Market Designer Doug Starcher and Elkins Main Street Design Committee co-chair Maryann Durland were both integral to this year’s festival, as well as it coming to fruition three years ago.

“Really, the whole idea of this whole scarecrow festival was Doug Starcher’s idea. He brought it to us three years ago. … He is a professional floral designer, so he is invaluable to us,” she said. “Maryann is also the co-chair of this design committee for Main Street.”